Refrigerating Device

ABSTRACT

A refrigerating device which comprises a heat-insulated body and a door which is joined thereto and which defines an inner chamber. According to the invention, at least one decorative plate is mounted on the door and which extends the door in the vertical direction.

The present invention relates to a refrigeration appliance, inparticular the structural requirements for a pleasing design of thefront face of the appliance, when it is set up together with adjacentother appliances or units.

Conventionally refrigeration appliances are usually manufactured eitheras freestanding appliances or built-in appliances. In the case offreestanding appliances, purchasers generally do not expect the designof such appliances to pick up features of surrounding units orappliances. In contrast built-in appliances are generally fitted inrecesses provided for them and covered by a panel, the design featuresof which correspond to those of adjacent unit doors.

Large-format refrigeration appliances cannot be built easily into units.Such appliances can for example be set up between two kitchen cabinetsand covered with a panel, which picks up the design features of theadjacent cabinets. However this requires the functionality of therefrigeration appliance not to be impeded by the total coverage of itsdoor.

A problem therefore arises in particular in the case of refrigerationappliances with a transparent door, for example in the case of bottlestorage cabinets. An attached decor panel, even if it is in the form ofa frame around a window aperture, always restricts the visibility of thecontent of the bottle storage cabinet. Also the height of the upper andlower moldings of such a frame is predetermined by the height of the topand bottom of the body of the refrigeration appliance, so that suchmoldings generally do not match the different manufacturer-specificheights of the horizontal edges of adjacent unit doors in a harmoniousmanner. It would be possible to attach a door to a standard model of arefrigeration appliance body, the height of said door being tailored tothe dimensions of kitchen units, with which the appliance is to becombined. But producing a plurality of door models in differing heights,each matching the dimensions of the kitchen units of differentmanufacturers, involves a very high level of outlay and expense. Alsowith such a door it would be necessary in each instance to providenon-transparent regions at the top and bottom, of a height that differedfrom model to model, to conceal the top and bottom of the body of therefrigeration appliance and in some instances part of the base region,on which the body rests, since these parts should not be visible throughthe transparent parts of the door.

The object of the present invention is therefore to create arefrigeration appliance, which is suitable for setting up adjacent tounits made by different manufacturers, whilst still picking up theirdesign elements, without it being necessary to cover the doorcompletely.

The object is achieved in that at least one decor panel, which extendsthe door in a vertical direction upward and/or downward, is fitted onthe door of the refrigeration appliance.

A decor panel, which extends the door upward above the upper face of thebody allows the apparent height of the appliance to be tailored to theheight of adjacent units, which are higher than the upper face of thebody of the appliance.

A decor panel, which extends the door downward to the level of the basesegment, allows the device to be combined with units, which for theirpart have a base segment, whose height is lower than that of the basesegment of the refrigeration appliance.

Further features and advantages of the invention will emerge from thedescription which follows of an exemplary embodiment with reference tothe accompanying figures, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a perspective, partially exploded, view of an inventiverefrigeration appliance set up next to a cabinet, to whose design it istailored,

FIG. 2 shows a partial section through the door of the refrigerationappliance according to a first embodiment; and

FIG. 3 shows a schematic partial section through the door according to asecond embodiment.

The refrigeration appliance shown in FIG. 1 has a body 1, which in theknown manner has a solid outer shell joined together from metal sheets,a drawn plastic inner container and an intermediate space filled withinsulating material between the outer shell and the inner container. Thebody 1 rests on a base segment 2, in which parts of the refrigerationunit of the appliance, for example a compressor and condenser, can beaccommodated or which essentially serves solely as an air duct to supplycooling air by way of a ventilation grille 3 to refrigeration unitparts, which are accommodated in a rear recess of the body 1.

A door 5 connected to the body 1 by way of multilink hinges 4 comprisesan insulating glass pane of a type known per se, which is set into aframe 6 joined together from four profile elements 7. Through theinsulating glass pane inside the body 1 vertically stacked bottlesupports 18 are visible, respectively comprising a number ofchannel-type trays connected by front and rear cross supports to hold abottle on its side.

The structure of the door is shown in FIG. 2. The profile elements 7forming the frame 6 are hollow profiles of roughly rectangularcross-section. A stud 8 protruding from a corner of the hollow profileserves as a support for the insulating glass pane 9. Studs 10, 11protruding from two other corners define a groove, in whose undercuts aplastic extruded profile 12 is hooked. One arm 13 of the extrudedprofile holds the insulating glass pane 9 elastically against the stud8, at the same time shielding the aluminum profile element 7 from coldair from the interior of the body 1. A magnetic seal 14 is latched in agroove 15 of the extruded profile 12.

An alternative structure of the door 5 is shown schematically in FIG. 3.Here the insulating glass pane 9 is made of two glass plates 16, 17 ofdifferent sizes, the outer plate 16 being larger than the inner plate 17and forming the entire front face of the door 5. A metal profile element7, of which four are joined together to make a frame, on which thehinges act, is adhered to the rear face of the outer glass plate 16.Adhered or latched to the profile element 7 is a plastic extrudedprofile 12, which, like the one in FIG. 2, serves to shield the metalprofile 7 from the interior and to support the magnetic seal.

With both the door structure in FIG. 2 and the one in FIG. 3 thedimensions of the door 5 are essentially predefined by the front face ofthe body 1 facing the door 5. To allow the appearance of therefrigeration appliance to be tailored to a unit 20 adjacent to it,angle pieces 21 are secured to the horizontal profile elements 7, beingprovided so that decor panels 22 and/or 23 can be fitted vertically fromarms of the angle pieces 21 protruding from the frame 6.

The decor panels 22, 23 are made of the same material as the adjacentdoors 24, 25 of the unit 20 and are like the doors 24, 25 in the designof their surfaces, edges, etc. These decor panels 22, 23 can bemanufactured by the manufacturer of the unit 20 in the requireddimensions with little outlay, so that the upper decor panel 22 forexample, when fitted in the position shown here as a broken outline, hasan upper edge that is higher than the upper face of the body 1 and isflush with the upper edge of the door 24 and the decor panel 23 has alower edge that is flush with the lower edge of the door 25.

The decor panel 22 conceals a top segment of the body 1 above the upperedge of the door 5, in which an evaporator chamber for example isconcealed, which cools the interior of the body 1 by means of circulatedair. It is therefore also expediently present in the case of arefrigeration appliance standing alone, for which it is not necessary totailor the height of the door to adjacent units.

The presence of the lower decor panel 23 allows the base segment 2 to bemanufactured in a height necessary to accommodate required components ofthe refrigeration unit therein, which may be different from the heightof a base region 26 of the adjacent unit 20.

1-5. (canceled)
 6. A refrigeration appliance comprising: aheat-insulated body having an interior; a door; the door connected tothe body thereby enclosing the interior; at least one décor panel; thedécor panel being fitted on the door thereby extending the door in avertical direction.
 7. The refrigeration appliance as claimed in claim6, wherein the body includes a top face; the décor panel extending thedoor upward over the top face of the body.
 8. The refrigerationappliance as claimed in claim 6 further including a base segment; thebody resting on the base segment; the décor panel extending the doordownward to the level of the base segment.
 9. The refrigerationappliance as claimed in claim 6, wherein the door is transparent on atleast one part of its surface.